They often have other missions behind them, from which they have learned to move in crisis scenarios. Some have arrived in Lebanon when there was still a "war air" in the 2006.
Sergeant Chiara Cravotta, under the fifth regiment of the lancers of Novara, based in Al Mansouri, is for the fifth time in the "Land of the cedars" and her first mission was precisely in the most critical period of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict, in the year in which the UN decided to expand the Unifil mission (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) precisely because of the complexity of the situation.
As deputy platoon commander he has 20 as his men, as 5 asset commander.
"I'm in charge of land patrols and planning of control activities," he says. A task certainly not easy, given the complexity of the Blue Line "question". But Chiara is used to managing danger. “I have already served at the 1-32 alfa base (the one where the monthly meetings of the tripartite table are held, with representatives from Israel and Lebanon as participants, on which the Force Commander must exercise its intermediation skills of Unifil, general Paolo Serra) and I found the same logistical and operational difficulties as the others ".
The corporal chosen by Federica Colalongo, who works in the healthcare sector, is also used to managing difficulties. The medical care, the care of the sick that are presented on the base or that the Italian contingent goes to find in the different villages of the South area of Lebanon, foresees an ability to get in touch with the population, to create trust in the inhabitants, to use tact and diplomacy in approaching the patient.
In four different missions, Federica has always played this role for the fifth Lancieri regiment of Novara. The most common case history to which he has witnessed is that of burn wounds. "There are no burns due to who knows what - he explains - children are often scalded with boiling coffee, or approaching the fires in the home for food preparation. Here the culture of home security is not very developed ”.
Being a representative of the "fair sex", Federica manages to win the trust of other women who need to be treated.
"There are not the same problems here as an Afghan doctor can treat a woman, because he is seen as a health care professional. Despite this, however, the female presence in the medical staff helps to overcome embarrassments and to ensure the right care even to the most skeptical ”.
Sergeant Francesca De Angelis also works in close contact with people, dealing with Cimic (Civil and military cooperation) whose purpose is precisely to plan and fund projects for the local population. “The activity ranges from the organization of days in favor of disabled children, to the construction of wells, to professional training courses for aspiring agronomists. In short, we take care of all the needs that are presented to us by local authorities or associations that operate in the area ".
Finally, there are women who have witnessed some of these activities organized by Cimic and whose task is to transmit the emotions and contents of this and other operations carried out by the armed forces to public opinion, thanks to contact with journalists, as provided for those who work in the PI cell (Public information) of the Italian contingent in Lebanon, at the head of which there is currently Captain Massimo Grizzo.
Tamara Mancuso, 25 years, from the 2008 is in the army among the sharpshooters. It's his second mission. The first was in Kosovo, in the 2012, where he had operational duties as a mortar. Currently, on the other hand, it has the delicate role of making those who do not know them understand the contents and importance of the work of the Italian soldiers within the Unifil mission.
Daniela Lombardi
(in the photos of the author: serg. Francesca De Angelis at the top, the cm Federica Colalongo and the serg. Chiara Cravotta; below the cm Tamara Mancuso)
